A Little Cloth Encouragement
by xtaline
Summary: Owen finds something that helps him deal with his separation from Cristina. One shot. Prompt fic; prompt: "lost and found"


After two days of trying to accept that he would no longer be able to hold her in his arms, the memory of their one night together just wouldn't stop replaying itself in his head. He had been walking past the door to the on-call room that held that bittersweet memory of their only time together half a dozen times a day, but he could never make himself go inside. Even though he knew that making love to Cristina in that room was a memory that he would cherish forever, he couldn't get over the look on her face as she kissed him goodbye one last time with tears in her eyes.

It was different this time, though. Owen was too exhausted to notice that his legs, almost as if they had a mind of their own, took him back to _the_ on-call room after a long, difficult shift and what he could only assume would be another sleepless night on-call. As he closed the door, he took a deep breath and walked over to the bed and sat down. He just sat there for a moment trying to clear his head, trying to remember what Dr. Wyatt had said in their first session that morning about how to relax his mind before attempting to sleep.

As he sat there breathing in deeply and trying not to focus on either the tearful goodbye or what had happened earlier that evening 48 hours before, he reminded himself that it was just a room. It was just a room and he was a doctor and if he didn't get some sleep he would be of no help to anyone. As he stared out at the wall before him, he noticed that the small bulletin board by the door had a scrap of black fabric pinned to it under a note that read "lost and found." He knew immediately what that scrap of fabric was. He could picture exactly how it had felt to help Cristina pull it from her hair and smiled in spite of himself as he walked over to retrieve it. It still smelled of her hair and even though it was just a piece of fabric, he somehow felt closer to her by simply holding it in his hand. If he couldn't have her, at least he could hold on to something that belonged to her and he soon found himself falling asleep with it clutched in his hand.

~*~*~*~*~*~

During the weeks that followed, Owen held on to Cristina's headband keeping it in his pocket most of the time. He wasn't sure why, but just holding on to it brought him just a tiny bit of comfort and made the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel easier to picture.

Getting through the day got easier and easier as he got further along in his therapy with Dr. Wyatt. Even though he and Cristina had agreed to take some time apart from each other, it didn't stop them from seeing each other every day. It started with warm smiles across corridors which led to small talk at the coffee cart and the occasional lunch together. Owen always let Cristina set the pace and be the one to decide how much time they would spend together. He kept her informed of his progress so she was well aware of the steps he was taking to get his life back.

The bond between them never went away, so their time apart became increasingly difficult and it wasn't long before their short conversations in the hallways started turning into stolen kisses in supply closets and quick and dirty rendezvous in on-call rooms.

They still weren't spending their nights together, but they had re-established enough of their relationship that Owen no longer needed to hold onto that scrap of fabric to get through the day. It moved into his desk drawer for a while and one day on a whim he brought it outside and stuck it on the rearview mirror in his truck reminiscent of a garter belt he once had in his car as a teenager.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Keep your pants on!" Cristina yelled as she made her way to the door, while still trying to put in her earrings. "Or you _could_ just take them off instead," she smirked as she opened the door to find Owen standing there with a smirk of his own and a single yellow daisy in his hand.

"While that would certainly be a way to break the ice tonight, I don't think your neighbors would appreciate a strange man standing in the hallway with no pants on." He brushed his lips over hers briefly as she let him into the apartment and took the flower he handed her.

"Actually, Mrs. Adams down the hall would probably appreciate it quite a bit." She took a moment to give him the once-over and made a show of sniffing the air. Cristina grinned as she said, "Well, it seems as you've left the distillery at home this time. Good choice."

He chuckled, "No, not this time. I plan on doing this right tonight."

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" She grabbed one of Callie's vases from under the sink and put the flower on the counter.

"Nope. You need to have a little patience."

"I don't like surprises." She brushed past him to grab her coat.

"You'll like this one. I promise," he said as he helped her on with her coat and snuck another kiss, this one a little more passionate than his earlier greeting.

She smiled at him as she pulled away. "Well just be warned, I don't put out for bad surprises."

He grinned as he took her arm and led her out of the apartment. "I'll keep that under advisement, Dr. Yang."

After Owen helped Cristina into the passenger seat of his truck, he climbed in beside her. They shared a small smile before he started the engine. They were ready to start over and Dr. Wyatt was pleased enough with Owen's progress in therapy to agree that there was no reason they couldn't sleep in the same bed again. Owen had insisted on taking her on a real first date before taking that step, though. He wanted a fresh start and a chance to finally make it up to her like he promised he would. Cristina, however, would have been more than happy with pizza, beer and a movie followed by hot, hot sex, but Owen was insistent that he take her on a proper first date.

"Can you give me a hint, at least?" Cristina purred while stroking Owen's thigh and hoping to distract him enough with her feminine wiles that he'd give in and just tell her where they were going.

"No." He gave her hand a squeeze and moved it over to her lap while giving her his best stern look before putting the truck in gear and heading away from her apartment.

She just sighed and rolled her eyes at his attempt at seriousness. When she turned her head back to watch the street in front of them, she spotted the headband around his mirror. She reached up and gave it a tug, "What's this? A high school memento? Some girl named Sallie Mae give it up and you just can't let go?" she teased.

He opened his mouth to say something, but it took him a minute to decide how to explain it to her and let out a nervous laugh. He couldn't help the blush that crept up on his face and neck, which Cristina noticed immediately.

"Um…actually, that belongs to you." He reached over and pulled it off the mirror.

"Uh…okay," she said and couldn't hide the slight confusion he just caused her.

He handed it to her hoping that she would recognize it. As she held the cloth headband in her hands to examine it, realization of its significance dawned on her and she couldn't help but smile at him

"Is this...from...?"

He nodded and hoped that she wouldn't think he was crazy for holding on to it.

"But...how? Where did you...?" She couldn't seem to form a complete sentence.

"Someone must have found it. It was stuck to the bulletin board in that room with a "lost and found" note pinned next to it."

"You've had it this whole time?"

He nodded and took a deep breath. "I don't know why, but just holding on to it actually helped me get through those first few weeks."

"Really?"

"You think it's weird, don't you?"

"No, I get it," she smiled. "You're a klepto with a strange obsession for inanimate objects."

He knew she was teasing him, so he didn't take offense. "Well, you can have it back, anyway. I don't need it anymore."

"Are you kidding? No way! It's going right back where it came from," she reached over and put it back on his mirror. "You can think of it as marking my territory."

He just looked at her and chuckled. "If you insist."

"I do," she said as she reached over and placed her hand in his and settled back to wait out their arrival at their mysterious destination.


End file.
